The Kwara Government has announced its plans to institute a delegation to meet with the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Salihu Garuba, over sanitation violators.

The team will consist of Director of Environment and some top officials in the state Ministry of Environment and an agency of the Federal Government (NESREA).

The state Commissioner for Environment and Forestry, Usman Abubakar Mora, who stated this in Ilorin at a media briefing after monthly sanitation exercise, regretted that some people were fond of violating the state environmental law even when they were obviously aware of the provisions of the law.

He denied that the government was shirking its responsibility of informing the people about the exercise, saying some people were deliberately sabotaging efforts of the government at ensuring cleaning environment in the state.

Mora noted that the issue of security provision was becoming worrisome, with assurance that the state government would instill measures to curtail untoward attitude of some residents to sanitation law.

The Commissioner, who commended the Director General of National Youth Service Corps for initiating corps members to participate in the sanitation exercise, said such partnership would serve as morale booster in addressing non-chalant behaviour of some residents to sanitation exercise.

However, the General Manager of the state Environmental Protection Agency, Oba Adefila, urged the appropriate quarters to improve on the modality for publicity to ensure that people were adequately informed ahead of the exercise.

Also speaking, the state President, Environmental Health Officers Association of Nigeria (EHOAN), Dr Afonja Ibrahim, alleged that for divine providence, some unidentified youth would have mobbed a magistrate presiding over a sitting Mobile Court in Ipata, Ilorin East Local Government Area of the state.

Ibrahim, who did not mention the name of the magistrate, said the cause could be attributed to inadequate security personnel on ground, just as he called for deployment of armed policemen for the exercise.

In his own comment, the Director of Environment in the state Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Mr Sikiru Olanipekun, appealed for active participation of Local Government councils in the exercise, promising that security lapses being witnessed would be improved upon in subsequent sanitation exercise.

Meanwhile, 40 people were arrested and arraigned before mobile courts sitting at different locations in Ilorin for contravening the state Environmental sanitation law.

Many of the defaulters were fined while those who could afford the fines were ordered to be cooling their feet in police net.

The offenders were nabbed at Post Office, Unity and Offa Garage for various offences ranging from roaming about inexplicably and non-participation in the exercise among others.